Should Posts Be Limited in Length?

[Johneli]

There are some threads and posts that I just won't read because they are too wordy. I think the site would be a lot more interesting if members would limit their threads and posts to one or two paragraphs. (I know this isn't ALWAYS possible if someone is trying to build a case or make a point), but, in general, we should ALL make a conscious effort to consolidate our thoughts. It just makes it more interesting when you're scanning a bunch of threads to be able to recognize the thrust of the thread/post in a few sentences. Any thoughts?

[straightshooter]

Quite a few of the long posts are gems well worth the effort of reading (and composing). That said, I also won't read some long posts if I don't think I am interested in the topic, but if my assessment of the topic was correct, there is nothing lost in me not reading the thread!

I recently read a long, very well presented post on another forum. The post started with two lines ('The short story ......') and went on with 5 long paragraphs ('The long story'). I wouldn't have touched that post if it hadn't been summarized neatly upfront, but the summary ('or catchline') upfront caught my attention and I ended up reading the entire post, and was glad that I did afterwards.

Some of the 100+ post threads containing mostly 1 liners can be hard to get into also. But the posters in those threads seem to be having fun, and the same goes for the threads with 'in-depth' long posts, so I don't think there is much need for change.

[Bigvivec]

There are some threads and posts that I just won't read because they are too wordy.
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Any thoughts?


Took care of that for you...

[Bigvivec]

Short answer...no!

I rather enjoy reading the long posts, and some of the long ones are worthy of, as JP put it "cutting out and sticking on the fridge"...some aren't but all the same I appreciate the time the author put into it...short and to the point, one line zingers and the like are entertaining, but to tackle the meat of a subject often takes a little time...

[Darth Fader]

If someone has something to say,it cant always be condensed into a few words.

[mr3856a]

No.

(Was that short enough? )

[GolfSavage]

As straightshooter said, I prefer to read the long posts over all the back-and-forth one-liners that should be done via PM anyway. Size doesn't matter, content does.

[Johneli]

Like I said...........


The longer the post the better!

[coralpro]

Originally Posted by Johneli

There are some threads and posts that I just won't read because they are too wordy. I think the site would be a lot more interesting if members would limit their threads and posts to one or two paragraphs. (I know this isn't ALWAYS possible if someone is trying to build a case or make a point), but, in general, we should ALL make a conscious effort to consolidate our thoughts. It just makes it more interesting when you're scanning a bunch of threads to be able to recognize the thrust of the thread/post in a few sentences. Any thoughts?

Hel-looooooooo!!!! You started this thread?

[Wazmankg]

Those who post a lot of long posts tend to be some of most interesting posters IMO. Even then not all of their posts engage me but I can usually sniff that out a couple of lines in and simply graze over it and move on. I certainly wouldn't want to inhibit anyone from expressing themselves here , within our language and content guidelines of course.

One thing I would like to discourage is the copy & pasting of voluminous content from other sources. A brief description and a link to the source should suffice. In fact I think that's something we'll be cracking down on. If anyone needs help regarding how to post links, please PM one of us.